Story Archives of 'Cooking'

It’s hard to imagine finishing a meal of beef with broccoli or crab rangoon without a fortune cookie. It’s like the period at the end of a delicious sentence.

But would you believe, the fortune cookie actually orginated in Japan? They were folded by hand in San Francisco factories and later exported to China, along with the Fold-Pak take-out container, to Chinese customers who’d seen such oddities on American TV shows like Seinfeld.

That’s one of the twisted mysteries of Chinese-American food exchange that’s cracked open by New York Times metro reporter Jennifer 8. Lee. Her new book, "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food" began in 2005, when an improbable number of people won Powerball after playing the lucky number from Chinese fortune cookie fortunes.

Lee, who was born in the United States to Chinese immigrant parents, traced the path of those cookies and uncovered a fascinating history of food and family, and she joined Virginia on Word of Mouth to talk about it.

(Photo by Jessica Wilson)

The woman who worked with culinary legend Julia Child for 24 years will be at Cotton Restaurant in Manchester tomorrow night in a benefit for The Kids' Cafe. Nancy Verde Barr will share highlights from her new book "Backstage with Julia: My Years with Julia Child." She talks with Morning Edition Host Lisa Peakes.

In the late 1980’s, James Haller was widely regarded as one of the country's best chefs. He left his famous Blue Strawberry restaurant in Portsmouth in 1986 and eventually went to work at the Shaker Village in Canterbury. There, he got to know the remaining four Shaker sisters personally and became indoctrinated in their simple, but elegant style of cooking. His book inspired by his time there is called "Cooking in the Shaker Spirit." It's now out in a second edition.

James Haller now lives in South Berwick Maine, where he offers cooking classes. His other books include, "What to Eat When You Don’t Feel Like Eating", "The Blue Strawberry Cookbook", and the most recent "Simply Wonderful Foods-A Cookbook for Men Receiving Radiation During Prostate Cancer."

Mary Ann Esposito is the host of TV's longest running cooking show, "Ciao Italia." She'll give us the inside scoop on how creating holiday foods can be more pleasure than pressure. She'll also take us inside the pages of her new book "Ciao Italia: Pronto."

And, we'll turn to producer Tod Maffin to find out the best way to cut an onion without destroying your eyes. Tod's podcast How To Do Stuff is dedicated to finding the best way to approach ordinary tasks.